NCIS a Family
by L.Hawk
Summary: A series of oneshots about how the team is a family. Hint of Jibbs.
1. Family

Gibbs "Hey, I've been looking all over the building for you."

Jenny "Since we were low on agents, I thought I'd give Abby a hand."

Gibbs "The only reason we are low on agents is because you sent DiNozzo home."

Jenny "Well there's no point in getting us all sick"

Abby "**Next time you send one of my team home you clear it with me first director.**

Well I didn't know I needed your permission to manage my own personnel Agent Gibbs

**Your personnel?**

_Last time I checked it said director on my door not yours \._

The kids don't like it when Mommy and Daddy fight."

--NCIS Episode: Twisted Sister

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jethro smiled as he thought back on that moment. He was down in his basement, sitting next to his boat. He dumped out a jar of nails and poured himself a glass of bourbon. They really were like a family he thought. That would make him the father and Jenny the mother. He smiled at that thought. No matter how much he tried not to, he had never completely gotten over Paris.

Ziva was definitely the oldest child. Not by actual age or having been there the longest but because she was the most mature. Abby was most certainly the youngest child, the daddy's girl who's so lovable and happy all the time. Tim was the more mature of the two, he was sure of that, although he was still so naïve in some ways. Tony was the immature, but he did boss Tim around enough. He could definitely be the second youngest, Jethro decided. Besides Mom always likes the first born son best and there was no doubt Tony was Jenny's favorite. That would make Tim the smart but quiet younger brother. Jethro smiled, Tim certainly fit that role.

Jethro frowned. He couldn't leave out Ducky. The good doctor was practically like the brother he never had. He smiled. Ducky was the old uncle everyone couldn't help but liking even though he droned on. Yep, that was defiantly Ducky. That would make Palmer the younger cousin that always wanted to tag along. The boy certainly fit the profile.

Jethro drained his glass of bourbon. He had a family again. Who'd have thought it?


	2. Bed sharing

Tony was the first one into the suite, with Abby hard on his heels. SecNav had offered to but Gibbs and his team up in a posh hotel for the duration of the investigation as long as they brought Abby with them. The request was simple enough and Abby had been thrilled to go. They quickly checked out the suite they had been assigned to share. It was suppose to be 3 bedrooms with 2 twin beds apiece. Trouble was, they all had queen sized beds.

Just then McGee, Ziva, and Gibbs, who not been as eager stepped into the room. "Dibs sharing with Timmy."

McGee frowned "Sharing what Abbs?"

Abby giggled "A bed Tim."

Gibbs looked at DiNozzo. "We do only have 3 beds Boss."

Ziva frowned "That means four of us will have to share"

Gibbs shrugged. "Figure it out among yourselves. I'm going to bed." He went into the closest bedroom and threw his bag on the bed.

"Right," said Tony, taking charge, as he was wont to do when Gibbs was not around. "Me and Probie will take the bed closest to the door. The two of you get the last bed."

Abby pouted, "I dibsed sharing with McGee."

Tony glanced at Ziva then turned back to Abby "Well in senior field agent and I say that its inappropriate for you two to share a bed due to past relations."

Ziva smiled, relieved "It will be fun Abby, like a…What's the English word?"

"A slumber party," Tony cut in.

"Exactly," said Ziva.

Abby bit her lip "Oh, Ziva," She closed her eyes and exhaled "But I'm still sharing with McGee."

McGee spoke up "Tony has a point, Abbs It might be less awkward if you were with Ziva."

"Come on Tim," said Abby imploringly, them she smiled "You remember how much fun we had last time we were in bed together."

At this point Gibbs, who had been listening in, head-slapped them both simultaneously. "You two are not sharing a bed."

"Exactly what I was thinking Boss, Come on Probie." Tony grabbed McGee's shoulder.

"Aww, Gibbs," Abby pouted.

Gibbs looked up at something. "On second thought, why don't you share a bed with me tonight."

"Gibbs," said Abby playfully "You were just jealous."

"Your putting words in my mouth Abbs." Said Gibbs lightly.

Director Shepard had just come in the door and said "Can I join your party?"

Gibbs shrugged, "We got three queen instead of six singles, so you'll have to share a bed with Ziva."

Jenny turned to Ziva "If its alright with you Officer David."

"Of course, Director."

Meanwhile Tony and McGee were arguing, "I always sleep naked McGee."

McGee rolled his eyes "We're in the same bed Tony. If you sleep naked, I can't let you pick which side you get."

Tony frowned "I always take the right side of the bed."

McGee shrugged and sat down on the right side of the bed. "I guess it's your choice."

Tony grabbed a pair of boxers and put them on. "Fine. Now move." McGee smiled and moved to the other said of the bed.

Ziva changed quickly. "You pick which side you want first director."

The director slipped into the right side of the bed and asked, "Do you know what Gibbs has against sharing a bed with me?"

Ziva frowned, "What makes you think that?"

Jenny replied "He only offered to share a bed with Abby when I arrived."

Ziva thought a minute, "He probably wanted not to present two high value targets right next to each other in case of attack."

The director raised her eyebrows "Do you think that's really his only concern?"

"No." Ziva sighed "He probably just wants to show Abby he's not hypocritical."

The director frowned "Hypocritical?"

Ziva smiled slightly "He would not let Abby share a bed with McGee."

"Ah." Was all the director said.

The lights went out "Goodnight Director."

"Goodnight Ziva."

It was Gibbs who had turned out the lights after he had made sure that Abby was tucked in on the right side. As he climbed into bed next to her she asked him "Gibbs?"

He replyed "Yeah Abbs?"

"You'll always be here for us, Right?"

Gibbs smiled in the dark "Of course I will Abbs."

Abby smiled "Goodnight Gibbs."

"Goodnight Abbs." And with that the room fell silent as the NCIS team drifted of to sleep.


	3. Cold

Ziva came into work sniffling one day with a very bad cold.

When she first came in DiNozzo threw her a package of Kleenex from his drawer, saying "It's my last pack but you need them more than I do."

Later in the day when McGee went for a coffee run he brought her back a cup of tea saying "I thought you could use some."

When they got a call around 14 hundred hours Gibbs said "You stay here Ziva. We don't need you getting any sicker."

After they had left, Abby came upstairs carrying a paper cup with some mixture in it saying "I heard you had a cold so I mixed you up some medicine. I promise it works better than Sudafed."

As she sat alone in the warmth of the bullpen, sipping her tea and blowing her nose as she waited for the medicine to take effect, She remembered when she was a little girl. If someone in the family got sick everyone did what they could to make them feel better. She smiled to herself. Her NCIS family was doing the same thing, each in there own way.


	4. A sister he never had

When Tony had been in collage his roommate's sister had died in a car crash. He tried to be there for his friend, but his friend had insisted that he had no idea how it felt because he didn't have a sister. Later that night, Tony had come up with the idea of distracting his friend by getting him high. Not on hard drugs, but on various scrounged substances like glue and sharpies. It worked. In friend lost his inhibitions, gushed out his feelings, and had genuinely felt better in the morning, despite having a nasty hangover.

It was that fateful night that Tony thought about when he lost Kate. He felt exactly like his friend had. He lost friends before, but it had never been quite this hard. She hadn't been a love interest, despite all his flirting, but he felt more for her than any of his other friends. She had become the sister he never had.

He had the same thoughts when he heard the Damocles sank with no survivors. Ziva had become as close as Kate had and it hurt just as much to loose her. The happiest moment of his life was probably the day they brought her home. He hadn't lost both his sisters after all.


	5. Boat Building

When Shannon and Kelly had died, he'd had only Mike as family. Before that he'd been building the boat but he didn't work on it every day or let it define him. Hell he couldn't, being in Kuwait for months at a time on tour. Once He'd shot their killer, He had nothing to do with himself except his work at NIS. That's when he started building the boat in earnest. When Mike retired to Mexico it had consumed him. Every second of everyday when he wasn't working he worked on it, and when he was doing something else he was thinking about it. When he was sent on the undercover mission with Jenny that changed. He stated thinking about her and the boat drifted to the back of his mind.

When she'd dumped him he'd come back broken and the boat consumed him again. When he got married a second time he used the boat as a way to escape from his wife. He'd finished it and started another. After the divorce it consumed him again. It went on like that with his next two wives, helping him escape when they were married and consuming his every second after the divorce to ease the pain.

His team thought he was obsessive about it, but in truth he slowed down a bit. Maybe it was when McGee joined the team or maybe a little before, he wasn't sure, but the boat became less and less important to him. He still worked on it practically every night, but he no longer though about it when he wasn't working on it.

When Kate died he had gone back to his obsession with the boat after her killer was dead, but that was just to ease the pain. His obsession with it waned as he healed. Once he knew the Damocles had gone down he had gone back to his obsessivness, but when DiNozzo had suggested revenge he had abandoned the boat altogether for the weeks of preparation it took. The team was more important he reasoned. When she had come back life had gone on, and he kept on with the boat, but it didn't consume him anymore. He had a family that needed him again and if that meant the boat had to suffer, he was okay with that.

The team thought he was obsessed. They had known him before. He didn' mind that.


	6. Daddy

It was the one thing he would never tell anybody. Not Jenny, Not Hollis; He'd never told any of his wives. He knew Shannon knew, but she was dead. After her death especially he would never tell anyone. Not even Abby. The truth was he liked it when Abby offhandedly referred to him as "Daddy" when he was arguing to the director that one time. He like the way Tony had called him "Pa" and "Dad" when he'd been trying to deflect attention to his less than legal activities on the Sea Hawk. He been proud when Ziva said she was the closest thing he had left to a father. He had to admit it. He liked being a "Daddy".


	7. Sarah, Under The Boat

McGee sat underneath the boat, sanding the interior. Gibbs climbed under and handed him a glass of bourbon. He didn't normally drink, especially strong stuff like bourbon, but he figured he might as well. He still didn't quite remember why he had come to Gibbs' basement in the first place, or why he hadn't left, but he would stay where he was for now. He'd always thought Gibbs was crazy for working so hard on his damn boat, but now he wasn't sure it was a bad thing. He had to admit that at the very least it was a good way to work off stress.

Officially he'd come to Gibbs' basement to deliver a message from Jenny, since Gibbs had thrown his cell phone into a can of paint stripper again after his second ex-wife had found a way to call despite the fact that he blocked her number.

She'd asked Tony to do it, but when he'd had plans for a date, Tim volunteered to deliver the message instead. He still wasn't sure why he'd done it. He didn't owe Tony any favors, that was for sure. He'd convinced himself that it was only because he felt it was time he saw Gibbs boat for himself, not because it was less then a year since his parents' death, and it was Sarah's birthday and their Dead Petty Officer had looked a lot like her; had been named Sarah Geet.

Gibbs Had seem through the official pretence at once saying, "What's wrong Tim?"

McGee had bit his lip and said, "Nothing Boss, I just came to deliver this message from the Director."

Gibbs had sighed exasperatedly and said, "Sit down," gesturing to a spare saw horse.

McGee did as he was told. He trusted Gibbs. Maybe that was why he'd ended up under the boat, drinking bourbon and telling his boss who he was worried about Sarah. His boss wasn't like any other boss.


	8. Favorite Brother

At first she had thought of him as just another boy-toy. But when he joined the team, that had changed. She couldn't put her finger on exactly when it was the change took place. Maybe it was the first time Gibbs had him bring her Caf-pow down to the lab. Maybe it was that time she let him hide down in her lab when Gibbs had gotten mad at him. Whenever the change had occurred it had been big. He had gone from being someone she played around with on weekends if she felt like it to someone who she trusted to keep her safe from Michael when he came back to stalk her again. He had become her second brother in justice, just like Tony. If she was really honest with herself, he was her favorite brother of the two. But there was no way she was telling Tony that.


	9. Father's Day

Anthony DiNozzo hated Father's Day. Mostly because he hated his father. He hated the time leading up to Father's Day, feeling the pressure to buy a gift for his father. It was May 12th when he came up with the idea. An idea so crazy it might just work. Just to spite his father, he would buy a Father's Day present. The only problem he could see was that he would never in a million years give that bastard he called a father anything. The only way he could pull something like this off was to get a Father's Day present for a man in his life who wasn't his father. The only person he could think of was Gibbs. He smiled to himself. His father would never know, but for Tony knowing that his father would be pissed if he ever found out was enough. Plus Gibbs deserved whatever Tony might get him. The only tricky part? Figuring out what to get for a man like Gibbs.

McGee sat with his eye closed. He'd forgotten about the bottle of bourbon. His father had given it to him the Christmas before he'd died. He knew he needed to do something with the bourbon. More than just drink it. He couldn't stand having it around, but he couldn't bring himself to throw it out either. That's when it hit him. He should give the bourbon to Gibbs for Father's Day. Somehow he didn't think his father would mind. His father would have liked Gibbs.

Every time she thought about her father, she got knots in her stomach. Ziva David was good at hiding her emotions. So nobody, except maybe Gibbs, suspected that as the American holiday of Father's Day approached, she was getting more and more anxious and irritable. She really did want to assimilate into American culture, but she could not celebrate Father's Day. She had broken all contact with her father, and she was sure he wouldn't approve anyway. The only person in her life who was remotely like a father was Gibbs. That was the solution. She would give Gibbs a Fathers Day present.

Abby was the Gibbs' favorite member of the team, so she knew better than anybody the pain Father's Day caused him. She was determined that this year things would be different. She would leave a Father's Day present on his desk. She even had a pretty good idea of what she was going to get him.

Even being the Director of a federal agency wasn't all good. There were some things that that everyone had to deal with. Loss was one of them. Knowing this never made Father's Day any easier of Director Shepard. She still missed her father, even after all these years. To keep her mind off things she lost herself more and more in memories of Paris and Serbia and everywhere else they'd run ops. He was her mentor as well as her lover; he'd taught her most of what she knew about being an NCIS agent. She closed her eyes. It was high time she did something in return.

Leroy Jethro Gibbs used to love Father's Day. If he were on deployment he would wait impatiently for the mail starting a few days afterward, looking for the card Kelly always sent him. If he were home he would spend the day with her, usually they would work on his boat together then go out for lunch to her favorite restaurant. Later Shannon would make a cake and they would have a special dinner together, made up of steak and french fries. That was before they'd been killed. Now Father's Day was a somber occasion, a reminder of the pain. He was always in a fowl mood on Father's Day. So when he marched into his office the Monday after he was still in a fowl mood. That is, until he saw his desk. A bottle of bourbon sat next to his keyboard. Lying next to it was a hammer with the initials LJ branded onto handle. Lying with it's handle crossed with that of the hammer was a long Knife, Semper Fi etched on the blade. Lying parallel to the knife was a pair of reading glasses with a red ribbon tied around the nosepiece. Standing beween the blade and the bottle of bourbon was a photo, taken in Autopsy. Abby was sitting on one of the tables, her arms around Tim who was standing and leaning on the table to her right. Ziva was sitting on Abby's left, her arm around Tony who was standing and leaning to her left. Ducky had pulled up a chair and was sitting in the middle. Gibbs looked at the picture and the other gifts. Then he looked up at his team and for the first time in over a week he smiled.


	10. Rain

Abby and Tony were the ones who were having fun, jumping in the puddles not caring since they were already soaked. McGee is being dragged along by Abby and trying to pretend he's pissed but she can tell he's having a good time. Ziva is not directly involved in the revelry. She just jogging along side them an enjoying the feeling of the water on her skin, a natural reflex from growing up in the desert. Jenny holds Gibbs' arm as they roll their eyes and laugh at the antics of the young agents as they walk through the rain.


	11. Kisses

Gibbs kissed Abby all the time. A kiss on the cheek when she did a good job or when she was feeling blue. He didn't have any feelings toward her, at least not the kind Tony would go on about. He just felt a great platonic love for her. He had been known to spare a kiss for Ziva as well like when he finished interrogating her, because he felt guilty and it was exactly what she needed. He was the closest thing she had to a father and he had to do right by her. She needed a kiss on the head every now and then. They were his teammates, his family. The only other woman at NCIS he would ever kiss was Jenny, and only because she was, well she was Jenny, his fiery redhead beauty. The past between them was complicated to say the least, but he still loved her. And she deserved a hundred thousand kisses; sometimes he even admitted it by giving her one


	12. A Dog for McGee

The desision to get a dog is a big one. Timothy McGee knew he shouldn't let someone else make the desision for him. Especialy consitering the fact that he was being asked to take care of a dog that had recently attaked him and who he had just shot. Actually, asked was probably the wrong word. More like Abby was sitting him down and telling him that Jethro was now his dog. He was pretty pissed at Abby's landlord right now. He had no objection to Abby keeping the dog. Hell, he'd even helped pay for the post-op flowers. He knew that logicaly he should refuse, tell her that she was out of line for trying to control his life. Logicaly he knew she wasn't his boss, he wasn't beholdento her. Exept that he was. She was Abby. Beside the fact that she could kill him a hundred different ways without leaving forensic evidence, he couldn't not do what she said. For one thing, Gibbs would kill him. But it was more than that. He wanted Abby to be happy. He also was bound to her. She depended on him and loved him and trusted him, and her depended on her and loved her and trusted her. So if Abby demanded he take Jethro, who was he to refuse. He took a deep breath and shook hands with his one time enemy. The dog didn't growl. He took that as a good sign.


	13. Falling Terror

Gibbs never forgot that one moment of pure terror. He was getting a confession. It required some creative investigation techniques. It worked better with DiNozzo, but Gibbs could have pulled it off by himself. He brought Tony because he knew Tony really wanted to jump.

Tony was trying to arrest the marine when he fell. His mind wasn't on the jump. Gibbs would have strangled that marine if anything had happened to Tony. To say he was relieved when he saw Tony's chute unfurl would be an understatement. He smiled when he saw that white cloth billowing in the air. For Gibbs that was saying a lot.

He joked about Tony breaking his neck once they were back in the bullpen. Once they were safe and sound again. He laughed when Tony limped out because he could tell Tony was hamming it up. It was easy enough to laugh when Tony was down on the ground safe, but he had never been that scared about jumping, not even when he was jumping out of a plane himself.

He tried to rationalize it later by saying that it was because Tony didn't jump. He fell; he wasn't ready. He tried not to think about the last time he'd felt so scarred, when Kelly was being rushed to Bethesda in an ambulance coughing up blood.

Leroy Jethro Gibbs was a brave marine, and he would never admit to anyone how terrified he felt when his children's lives were in danger. But he would never forget that moment of pure terror.


	14. Family Feud

He finally understood how family feuds started. With simple misunderstandings that involved death. It sounded weird to say, but he could see it was the truth. Your son shoots someone who he thinks is trying to shoot him. Turns out that his brother claims he didn't even own a gun. Now you have a generation to generation feud that lasts for decades.

That same thing almost happened to his team. He considered McGee to be as good as his son, so when he said that the man had pointed a gun at him, Gibbs believed him. Then they found out the man he had shot had been an undercover cop.

Gibbs had been ready to strangle the lieutenant from the metro PD for even suggesting McGee shot without provocation, while the man's partner had been ready to strangle Gibbs for even digesting his partner was a dirty cop. McGee was on a guilt-trip breakdown and Gibbs hated the Metro cops even more for hurting McGee like this.

It was Jenny who smoothed things over. She was the one who ordered them to cooperate with Metro. To keep civil long enough to get to the bottom of things. It was his fiery redhead who'd kept a head on her shoulders and been rational enough to prevent a blood bath. He guessed he shouldn't have been surprised. Most blood feuds took place in patriarchal communities. Here at NCIS, Mamma was in charge.


	15. To Dinner as Brothers

Before he came to work at NCIS Tony would have never been caught dead going out to dinner alone with another man. He always said that you went out to lunch for business and to a bar with a friend. The only reason two men would go out to dinner was if they were family or gay lovers. Tony had no family to speak of, and though he wasn't anti-gay, he was defiantly a ladies' man. So he swore to himself he would never go out to dinner with another man.

McGee became the exception to that rule. The first time it was just after they had closed a particularly taxing case involving a marine who was shot trying to stop a neighbor from beating his daughter. They had eventually caught up to the bastard. Tony had been forced to shoot the man in front of his little girl who had cried uncontrollably. Gibbs had ordered his team to go home a five o'clock and finish the paperwork tomorrow.

McGee was worried as Tony left. He seemed to be taking the case harder than the rest of them. He insisted on staying, and only left when Gibbs smacked his head. McGee could tell Tony was feeling like he did back when he shot the undercover cop. He had just got back to his apartment when he made the decision. Tony was there for him when he shot that cop and Tony was falling apart. Tony needed him. He didn't exactly have a plan; he just knew that he had to go and be there for Tony.

Tony was sitting alone in his apartment. He couldn't even muster up the energy to turn on the light as it grew steadily darker. When he first heard the knocking he yelled, " Go away!"

Tim hadn't come all this way to give up though. "Tony," he called through the door, "It's me. Open the door." Tim didn't know what else to say.

"Go away McGoo," snapped Tony.

Tim sighed, but he knew he couldn't just leave Tony. He took a deep breath "Don't shut me out Tony. I'm just trying to help."

Tim had opened his mouth again but was unsure of what to say next when Tony opened the door. Tim exhaled sharply as Tony stood at the door not saying anything. He looked like hell. He stood starring for a long minute before silently moving aside to let Tim in. Tim blinked rapidly for a moment as his eyes adjusted themselves to the darkness.

"You've just been sitting here?" he asked unnecessarily.

"No, Probie, I've been writing my memoirs," Tony spat back sarcastically.

Tim sighed and looked around. The one thing he noticed was that there were no take out containers to indicate Tony had eaten. He had to start somewhere. "Have you eaten yet?" he asked.

Tony looked at him like he was crazy. "I just killed a man," he said incredulously, "and you're worried about whether or not I had dinner?"

Tony started to pace. McGee thought quickly and grabbed his should saying "Tony!" loudly. Tony stopped and glared at him. He started speaking more quietly. "Tony, we go out into the field everyday knowing we might have to kill somebody. Today you did. Not eating isn't going to do them any good; it'll only hurt you. "

Tony sighed and sat down on the couch. "I deserve to be hurt."

Tim let his panic creep into his voice as he said "Tony, you don't…"

"I killed somebody's daddy, Tim."

Tim bent down on his knees and in front of the couch and put his hand on Tony's shoulder, "Tony he had a gun, If you didn't kill him he would have killed you."

"I'm not anybody's father though," Tony replied quietly.

McGee closed his eyes and thought for a minute. "Tony," he began slowly, you might not be anybody's father, but you're my partner and you're as good as a son to Gibbs. You gotta look out for your team Tony, and that means staying alive."

Tony looked at his partner, at a loss for words. Praying he got his point across Tim stood up, grabbed Tony's arm, and started pulling him toward the door. "Come on." He said.

"What are you doing Probie?" Tony asked.

Tim kept pulling, "You can't just sit around and sulk. It's not Tony-like."

Tony groaned , but let his partner pull him out the door. On the way down the stairs, he finally asked, "Where are we going, McGee?"

Tim frowned for a minute. He hadn't really thought about it. Thinking quickly, he came to the only possible conclusion, "To get food."

"Huh, because there wasn't any food at my place," Tony said mockingly.

Tim rolled his eyes and ignored the comment but he smiled on the inside. Tony was becoming more like Tony. When they got outside Tim looked around. There was a McDonald's right across the street from Tony's apartment. McGee looked both ways before pulling Tony gently across the street.

The McDonald's was practically empty as Tim made his way to the counter and ordered two cheeseburgers, two drinks and an extra large thing of fries. They sat down and ate. Tony stole two bites of Tim's cheeseburger and they fought over the fries. Just like they would if they were having lunch at the bullpen. Tony left an hour later.

That was just the first time. Their dinners together slowly became a regular thing. Whenever they had a particularly tough case or things went badly, they'd end up having dinner together. They didn't always get burgers. Sometimes they went out to real restaurants where Tony flirted with the waitresses. If the waitress cast a questioning glance at McGee Tony would say "Oh that's just my brother."

Once a waiter asked if they were brothers and Tony said dismissively "Something like that."

When he left Tim asked Tony "What happened to rule number 7?"

Tony raised one eyebrow, "What makes you think I was lying?"

Tim looked thoughtful. "Good point," he said.


	16. A Pat On The Head

He ran his fingers through his hair afterword, as if he couldn't quite believe it. He smiled to himself. Gibbs and the team had left. Normally he wouldn't want to be left out, but he didn't want them to know how much he had enjoyed it. Gibbs knew. Gibbs knew everything. But he wasn't ready for the other agents to know. It felt good. Not good like sexual good, but good like when his mother used to ruffle his hair before she died. He looked up to his boss as a hero and any recognition of having done a good job was welcome. But this was something special. It sounded weird, even to his own ears, but he liked the way Gibbs' hand felt on his head. He didn't know the same hands the punished him with headslaps could also reward him with a gentle caress. Not that he'd admit his thoughts to anyone. They just seemed too weird. His father never ruffled his hair did he? But then again, Gibbs was a better father than that bastard ever could be.


	17. The Dead Daughter's Wall

In the dining room he never used, hung on the wall, were a collection of photographs. The first was a picture of his beautiful little girl Kelly and his one true wife Sharron in a glossy black frame, with a little gold star in the corner. The picture underneath that was cut from a wanted ad, pinned to the wall haphazardly was a grimy looking Mexican drug dealer. His picture had a large red bulls-eye drawn on it in red sharpie and a black ex through it.

Next to the picture of his beautiful little girl Kelly was a black framed picture of Kate, with a little gold star in the corner. Underneath her picture was a photo of the grinning Ari that Gibbs had driven himself crazy running through facial recognition. It too had a red bulls-eye and a black ex.

Next to Kate's picture was a pciure of his beloved Jenny in a black frame and with a little gold star in the corner. Underneath her picture was a photo of a blond Russian spy printed from McGee's computer with a bullseye around her head and a black ex over that.

Next to the picture of Jenny was a nail hole where it was clear a fourth photo had hung. In the middle of the space where the picture would be there was a little gold star. Underneath that hole their was a fifth picture of a terrorist printed from the FBI's most wanted list and pinned to the wall. There was a red bullseye and a black ex over him.

Leroy Jethro Gibbs sat back. He was glad that the last spot on his wall was empty, but in this line of work, he knew it wouldn't be forever.


	18. I'm Sorry Kate

"I'm sorry, Kate." Three words, one simple phrase that had been said hundreds of times over the course of her shortened life span. Except that this time the phrase was unique. It was outside her lifetime, whispered over her grave. It was also whispered by the one man who had never spoken it before. Leroy Jethro Gibbs. He whispered it gently over her as he lay a rose on her flag draped coffin after she rebuked him for being late.

It wasn't the lateness he was apologizing for. It was just an excuse. What he was really apologizing for was letting her die. For pissing Ari off enough he couldn't just kill Gibbs, he had to kill Kate first. For not protecting her. For not telling her he loved her.

Leroy Jethro Gibbs made it a point not to apologize. He found it was much easier to let someone know they were forgiven by moving one and treating them as well as you had before, maybe just a little bit better. With Kate he couldn't. She was dead. He had to leave her here in the cemetery and move on without her. That's why he said he was sorry. Because he wouldn't have a chance to show it.


	19. Daugter By His Bedside

Jenny was standing watching the once love of her life lying in a hospital bed in a coma. Standing next to her was a young woman she considered to be like a daughter to her. She'd felt like a she was Abby's mother when she stopped her from chewing out the doctor. She stopped, not with a "yes ma'am like an agent obeying an order from her director, but by lapsing into silence like a sulky child. She'd been distracted at the time watching Jethro, and if it had been any other agent she wouldn't have bothered stopping them, she didn't want Abby getting dragged off by hospital staff while her surrogate father lay dying.

They stood watching him for a while after the doctors left. They stood silently in each other's presence for a while. Eventually Jenny put her arm around Abby. That's when Abby lost it and started crying onto her shoulder. She hugged the younger woman and rubbed her back gently, whispering soothing words into her ear. Final Abby calmed down and straitened up.

It was then that Jenny desided. "Abs," she said gently "You need to go home. We both do."

"But Gibbs," Abby tried to protest.

The director sighed, "He's out for now. You need to take care of yourself. Gibbs would never forgive you if you didn't."

Abby nodded and let Jenny drive her home. They rode in silence. When they got to Abby's apartment, Jenny pulled up to the curb she pulled Abby into a hug and kissed the top of her head gently. Abby smiled weakly in acknowledgment before pulling away. "Get asome sleep Abs." the director told her.

Abby hesitated, "Okay, but what about the evidence."

The director smiled weakly. "They won't be done processing the scene for at least a few more hours. You need to sleep Abs."

Abby nodded, "Goodnight Director."

Jenny smiled, "Goodnight Abs," and watched as the goth made her way inside. She then drove back to her house and changed out of her evening gown. She debated whether or not to follow her own advice and catch a few hours of sleep, but decided against it and drove back to the hospital to check on Jethro.

She knew she should take care of herself, but Abby would never forgive her if nobody was there when Jethro woke up. And besides, she was a hardened agent. She could take the abuses of all night vigils better than the young scientist. And Abby had a full day of processing evidence ahead of her. Abby needed the sleep more than she did. She knew Jethro would understand.


	20. My Sister Home To Me

Abby gently touches her face first, which isn't like her except that she had almost come to terms with Ziva being dead since she heard about the Damocles sinking it tore her up inside because she's already lost one of her teammates and now she'd lost another.

And she felt guilty about not saying a proper goodbye before Ziva left for Israel because she'd thought that Ziva would come home, but then she never did and there was no making up for that.

Except that now there was. She had been anxiously awaiting the team's arrival. Gibbs had called them on the satellite phone before they boarded the plane and said that Ziva was with them, but she couldn't quite bring herself to believe it.

After she touches her face and is sure that her Ziva is really and truly here and her minds not playing tricks on her she hugs her, gently because she's afraid of seeing Ziva this badly hurt but glad to have her back anyway. She can't bring herself to let go, not even when everyone starts clapping, because Ziva's home. Abby and Ziva had become as close as sisters over the years of working together and working through Gibbs absence together and dealing with life together. They were much closer than either of them thought they ever would be. And now her sister had come home and her family was back together.


	21. Daddy's favorite girl

She was his favorite. There was no disputing that. Of all his people, she was the only one he'd never had to head-slap. Not that she didn't annoy him sometimes to the point where if she had been anyone else he would have head-slapped her. But somehow she always got away with things. He saved his nice side for her.

Not that he wasn't tough on her. He expected her to live up to impossibly high standards sometimes. But he forgave her the easiest if she failed him. He was extremely affectionate toward her. It was interesting because he was such a gruff marine most of the time yet he was all soft on her.

She was like a daughter to him, but that wasn't the only reason he was soft on her. Ziva and Kate were also like daughters to him as well, but he was pretty tough on them, even bending his "never hit a woman" rule to head-slap them. He mostly loved Abby best because of her youngest daughter personality. She was daddy's little girl.

You couldn't not like Abby. She was so cheerful all the time. Maybe that's why Gibbs loved her so much, because she reminded him of Kelly. She could see the gentle Daddy, hidden behind his gruff ex-marine persona. She was also devious enough to take advantage of that.

Whatever the exact reason, she was his favorite. He let her know everyday by bringing her Caf-Pow and kissing her cheeks, she was Daddy's little girl.


	22. Big Brother

"You can stop being such a big brother."

Tony thought back on those words after Ziva left the men's room in a huff. He had annoyed her by talking about her love life, by adding innuendo to their conversation. He always did that. She would forgive him. She always did. Or she never did. He wasn't always sure which. Their relationship was complicated to say the least.

To anyone watching superficially, it would seem like they hated each other. He went out of his way to annoy her constantly. She threatened to kill him with office supplies. Not on the best of terms. Except that she cared about him. They had dinner together at least once a week. She always had her six and she always had his. That's just the way they were.

If he was truthful, he was sometimes overprotective of her, but that was the way it was suppose to be. She was a Probie. She was starting over. He was like her big brother helping her along the way. And scarring off any man that got near her.


	23. A Mother's Pride

"I'm proud of you." The words slipped out of Jenny's mouth before she could stop them. They felt right. She knew Tony deserved his own team. She had become quite close to the younger agent since Gibbs had left on what she secretly called his Margarita Safari. It had started with Gibbs' coma, to tell the truth. She had been close to the Agent before, but when they were together in that hospital room… She began to think of the young agent as her son.

She was extremely proud of him, as proud as any mother would be of her son. She had watched him as he grew into the role of team leader, becoming the man of the house when Gibbs was gone. It hadn't been easy for the younger agent, and yet somehow he'd managed to hold the team together.

Once she talked to Gibbs, she knew he would never accept his own team, just as she knew that if she awarded Gibbs another metal, he wouldn't show up for the award ceremony. She'd suspected it before, in the mother part of her brain. She knew he loved the team and wouldn't leave them. She knew of his unwavering loyalty to Gibbs.

The director part of her sighed at the unruly behavior, but the mother part of her won out as she offered him a smile. He was being so Tony as he asked about a raise, she knew that he liked the fact that she had complemented him and was trying to hide it. That was just the way Her Tony was.

And as he left, she kept smiling. The director side of her knew that she had missed an opportunity to have someone competent in charge of one of her teams. The mother side that won out was just glad her little boy would be staying home. She liked having her son around.


	24. Sibling Counseling

There was a convention thrown every year for doctors that worked for federal agencies. Ducky didn't often attend, but with Agent Lee out of the picture, he felt that young Mr. Palmer would be more than capable of running the investigations for a few days, provided no major cases came up, and if they did, well he was only a phone call away. Contrary to what the boy believed, Ducky knew all about his liaison with Agent Lee including their break up. He smiled. No one seemed to realize just how much Jethro had taught him about being observant.

That was how he found himself in this situation. He had struck up a conversation with a recently hired psychiatrist from the FBI. She was telling him about how she used to do sibling counseling in the private sector. She asked him if he had ever done sibling counseling. He thought back, years ago, before Catlin had died, to when she and Anthony had come bursting in to autopsy demanding a mediator. He had told them, quite truthfully, that they had sibling issues and should come to him for counseling. They had and using his limited expertise tried to help them reconcile their differences. He had to think for a second. He didn't want to lie. "Never officially," was the answer he came up with.

She went on to tell him about how he had no idea how difficult things could get with sibling counseling, about how the worst trouble seemed to occur with brother sister pairs with particularly demanding but loving single fathers. Ducky fully agreed that "particularly demanding but loving single father," was a fairly good description of Jethro. She continued, telling him that some of these sessions seemed unusually violent, but the brother and sister were usually quite close. Ducky had seen this as well, mostly with Ziva, who was by now like a daughter to Jethro, threatening to kill Tony with a paper clip. She went on to say that things usually went down between the two oldest. If there were youger siblings, the younger sister or sisters would be secure in their fathers love, and the younger brother or brothers would be trying just as hard to win their fathers approval, but be overshadowed by the older siblings. Ducky knew that this was exactly what was going on with Abigail and Timothy.

He put on a face of polite interest as she spoke, and she never knew that he was smiling on the inside. She never realized just how familiar her words sounded to Ducky, the splitting image of his own family.


	25. Missing My Big Brother

He never thought he'd miss Tony. The other man was always teasing him, calling him McGeek and McGoo and a hundred other derogatory nick names starting with Mc. Not to mention calling him probie and doing dumb things like supergluing him fingers to his keyboard and throwing balls of paper at him when he was trying to work.

That is until Tony was out on sick leave. He and Kate got more work done that way certainly, but not having his senior field agent made Gibbs crankier than usual. He had been head slapped at least 7 times the first day after Tony left isolation and Kate had been slapped 3 times. And Gibbs wasn't the only one in a bad mood. Abby was way more hyper and worried then normal and insisted on checking their mail before it was opened. And he suspected Kate was worried, though she didn't say anything about it.

He had to admit he missed Tony, more and more and the days ticked by. He couldn't come up with a logical explanation. Tony was never nice to him or anything. Except that Tony was like a big brother. Showing his dominance over Tim while looking out for him and deflecting Gibbs' wrath. Not to mention that it was his fault that his big brother had nearly died.

So when Tony came back, Tim made a promise to himself to enjoy having the senior agent around and not take him for granted. Even it if Tony drove him crazy.


	26. Naked Brother

The first thing she thought was "oh my God, why is Tony naked?" but she didn't say this out loud because she was a reasonably good Catholic and would never take the name of the lord in vain. She settled for shocked silence, then flashed him a grin when he saw. The second thing she thought, right after he pulled the table to cover himself up, was that she wasn't turned on.

Tony wasn't unattractive, she'd give him that. But she'd felt nothing but shock seeing him naked. No repulsion, no turn on, no nothing. Although she was a good little Catholic girl, Kate wasn't exactly a virgin, she'd seen men naked before, and no matter how many naked men she saw, she always felt something, however slight and however good she was at hiding it when necessary. The only other time she hadn't reacted to a naked man, she'd been 8 and had walked in on her brother taking a shower.

She tried to push the incident out of her mind, until she saw the way he was drooling over Paula Cassidy. She pegged it as endorphins right of the bat, but then she remembered something. She had been the first woman Tony saw on his endorphin high. Not Paula. She pushed that thought out of her mind right away. She didn't count.

They couldn't get involved. They had rule #12. Besides, they were partners. If she was being honest with herself they were more than that. They were like brother and sister, which is why she didn't feel anything when she saw him naked that morning. Gibbs might be driving them to the brink of insanity, but she was not sick enough to be turned on by her own brother.


	27. Sleeping while he's out there

Gibbs stared out the window into the Washington night. Somewhere out there, Ari was laughing. He hated that. Ari had tried to kill his team today, no matter what the bastard said. His team was still here. He told all three of them to go home, but they had stayed, stayed to protect him. They looked so peaceful, lying there. It made his heart ache. He supposed they were safer, sleeping here in a federal government protected building then in their homes, but that wasn't why he felt a twinge of fear as he stared out into the darkness. It was because he knew that they would never leave him. He knew that if he confronted Ari, there was a good chance that one of them would be there as well. He thought of his agents as children, though he'd never admit it. His mouth was dry because he saw them sleeping so peacefully and he knew that he was putting them in danger. As a father he wanted to protect his children. He knew that it was impossible with Ari out there. He knew that there was a good chance that one of them would die; that he would fail them, just like he failed Kelly.


	28. Not Quite Naked

He never pictured her naked. Ziva thought that he did, but he hopes she forgets because he feels the same way about her. He pictured her in her school girl outfit with the wind blowing up from underneath, but he has a pornographic mind, She's the first to point that out, and if he really was interested in her he could do so much more, but he's not. He only wants to mess with her, even if she is dead, so she'll glare at him and that will be so…Kate, that he can fill the void, that he can stave off the tears. He couldn't picture Kate naked though. There are some lines that he would never cross. Kate was like a sister, and DiNozzo men to not have incest fantasies.


	29. Safety With Daddy

She knew he was only saying that everything would be okay to make her feel better. She knew that crouching in that elevator, she was still in danger, even if it was less dangerous then her lab. She knew that she was still in danger, even with Gibbs crouching next to her. She knew all this, but it didn't stop her from feeling a lot safer with Gibbs there, next to her. It didn't stop her from not being so sad when he said everything would be alright. She knew she was being childish, but alone in the elevator with her surrogate father, she didn't care. He was so tough and invincible and at the same time so gentle that she couldn't help giving in to her inner child and letting her Daddy comfort her.


	30. Three Identical Reports

It was 15 hundred and Tim was waiting in line at the convenience store where Gibbs had sent him to get Abby her 8th Caf-Pow of the day. Suddenly, two men wearing ski masks strode through the door and pulled out guns. One of then pointed his gun at the clerk and while the other pointed his gun at the people waiting in line, saying, "Everyone down on the floor."

Being a highly trained federal agent, Tim stayed standing as everyone else scrambled down. He slowly drew back his coat, revealing his badge and gun and trying to look braver than he felt as he said, "Are you sure you want to do this?"

The man swallowed nervously and called out to his partner, "This guys a cop."

The other man swore. Tim pulled his gun and the man shot him, right in the gut. Tim dropped his gun and grabbed the wound, trying to stop the bleeding as he sank to the floor. The man waved his gun around, saying, "if anybody else moves you'll end up like him."

Nobody moved until the other man finished emptying out the cash register and the two masked men headed out the door. There was silence for a moment, then one of the people on the floor pulled out his phone and called the police. The wailing of sirens was the last thing Tim heard before he passed out.

It was 15:10 and Gibbs was sitting in the bullpen when his phone rang. He picked it up and answered, "Special Agent Gibbs." He listened for several seconds before saying, "Where?" He listened to the answer then asked "Which one?" Once the voice had answered he hung up and said, "Grab your gear."

Tony frowned, he could tell something wasn't right. He decided to approach the matter directly and as he was pulling his badge and gun out of the drawer, he asked, "Something wrong boss?"

Gibbs turned and glared at him, then said, "Other than the fact that Tim's been shot, not much."

Kate grabbed her bag and headed to the elevator with them, saying, "I thought he just left to go get Abby another Caf-Pow."

Gibbs didn't even bother turning around when he said, "Well yeah Kate, and he got shot doing it." The elevator doors closed and the three agents remained silent, all three of them worrying about their comrade.

It was 15:15 and Tony, Kate and Gibbs were at the convenience store where Tim had been shot. The drive should have taken them ten minutes but with Gibbs driving, it only half that. Gibbs dropped off Tony and Kate and told them to process the scene before driving off. Tony and Kate did as they were instructed and Tony began sketches and photo graphs while Kate bagged, tagged and dusted for prints.

It was 15:35 and Gibbs was at Bethesda. He got to the nurse's station and asked her, "What's the status on Timothy McGee?"

The nurse looked up and said, "I'm sorry sir, could you…"

"Timothy McGee," Gibbs cut her off.

She glanced at the computer, "He just got out of surgery."

"I need to see him."

"Sir, only family…"

Gibbs glared at her, "I'm his father."

The nurse bit her lip, "I'm sorry Mr. McGee, your son is in room 286."

Gibbs didn't bother to correct her as he rushed to see his injured agent.

Tim was still slightly out of it because of the after affects of the anesthesia. The doctor was with him when Gibbs walked into the room. The doctor stopped him and asked, "Are you family?"

Gibbs nodded, "He's my son."

Tim smiled. He liked hearing Gibbs call him his son, even if was only lying to a doctor. The doctor noticed this reaction and said, "You can have fifteen minutes with the patient, then I insist that he rest."

Gibbs nodded, "Okay," and sat down next to Tim.

When the doctor had left the room, he turned to the younger man. "How are feeling."

Tim considered it for a moment before saying, "Not too bad, considering." He hesitated for a moment. He knew he should say what he was thinking, but it was hard. Gibbs could tell he was thinking about something and merely raised one eyebrow. Tim swallowed and continued, "Listen boss, I know you were only lying to the doctor just then but…"

Gibbs held up his hand, and Tim stopped talking. He realized what Tim was trying to say and he didn't know how to respond, to tell Tim how much he meant to him. He was never good at expressing his feelings. The only thing he could think of to say was, "I wasn't just lying to the doctor."

Gibbs saw the spark of realization in Tim's eyes, but it quickly faded as he said, "I'm sorry I let you down."

Gibbs frowned, "Never apologize. Besides you didn't let me down."

Tim bit his lip, "But I couldn't stop them. I should have been able to stop them."

Gibbs raised one eye brow, "How?"

Tim frowned as he thought back. He didn't see how anything he could have done would have helped. "I don't know," he finally admitted.

Gibbs gently reached out and stroked Tim's hair. Tim didn't protest as he said, "This wasn't you fault, Tim."

Tim nodded. Then suddenly he remembered something. He looked up at Gibbs and asked, "Boss, what about Abby's Caf-Pow?"

Gibbs was caught between wanting to scream in frustration and wanting to laugh out loud. He settled with sighing and saying, "Got Jimmy on it."

Tim breathed a sigh of relief. They passed the rest of the 15 minutes in silence, Tim content to be in his mentor's company and Gibbs with his worries, until the doctor kicked Gibbs out. He turned to Tim and said, "Tony and the girls will be by later." Tim smiled.

It was 16 hundred and Tony and Kate were done processing the crime scene. They had boxed up all the evidence and were waiting for Gibbs to come pick them up. Kate looked at Tony, "Where do you think he went?"

Tony sighed, "He went to visit Probie at the hospital, Kate."

Kate scanned the horizon silently, "Do you think he'll remember to come back for us?"

Tony laughed, "Of course he will."

Kate just continued to scan the horizon silently.

Tony looked at her, "He's wouldn't forget us right?"

Kate just said, "Of course he won't Tony," in an overly cheery and sarcastic voice.

They both just stared out at the horizon for a while, before Kate said, "He's going to come get us right?"

Tony looked at her too worried to banter, "Come on, Kate, he wouldn't just leave us here; we're his team."

Kate bit her lip, "What if he expects us to walk back?"

Tony frowned, but didn't say anything.

It was 16:10 and the truck finally pulled up next to the side of the road and Gibbs got out and unlocked the back. Tony said, "Good to see you boss." Gibbs just glared at him and he took the hint and said, "Shutting up now boss."

The three agents began shifting the evidence into the vehicle silently. When they had all gotten into the cab and Gibbs had set off at twice the speed limit Kate finally asked, "How's Tim doing?"

Gibbs face remained as stoic as ever as he said, "He's out of surgery; the doctor says he going to be fine."

Tony nodded, "You think the doctor'll let us see him later boss?"

Gibbs nodded, "Yeah, since you're family."

It was 16:15 and they had parked the truck in the evidence garage. There were 3 boxes of evidence and they each took one to the elevator and Gibbs scanned his eyes and they were in. Once the elevator doors slid shut Tony turned to Gibbs and asked, "Have you told Abby yet?" Gibbs looked at him and Tony sighed and said, "I'll take that as a no."

Kate's closed her eyes and muttered, "Oh boy." Other than that they rode the rest of the way down in silence.

It was 16:17 and the three agents gingerly stepped through the sliding glass door of Abby's lab. The music was blaring as usual and Abby was dancing to the beat. Gibbs, who was in no mood to compromise, walked over and turned the stereo off. Abby turned to him and said, "Aww, Gibbs, that was my favorite part."

Kate cut in, "We brought you some evidence Abby." She and Tony carried their boxes and set them down on the table next to Gibbs'.

Abby immediately noticed that something was up and asked, "What's wrong?" When they didn't answer right away, she looked around and said, "Oh my God! Where's Timmy? He's not…"

Tony saw where she was going with this and said, "He's alive."

Abby bit her lip, "What happened?"

"Well," Tony began, "He was standing in line at the convenience store, minding his own business, when two masked men come bursting in with guns. They tell everyone to get on the ground, but McGee, as a sworn federal agent, isn't about to let a robbery go down. He flashes his badge and they shoot him. They them finish robbing the place and leave, some guy calls the cops, and Tim's rushed off to Bethesda in an ambulance."

Abby threw her arms around Gibbs, who began gently stroking her back, "Is he going to be Okay?"

Gibbs said quietly, "He's out of surgery okay. He's going to be fine."

Abby squeezed him tighter, "But what if there are complications?"

Gibbs kissed her forehead gently, them said, "He doesn't have my permission to die, Abs."

Abby nodded and let go of Gibbs. "I need to process the evidence and find out who did this."

It was 16:25 and Gibbs was out getting coffee and Kate and Tony were watching the surveillance tape from the robbery when Abby came bursting into the bullpen screaming, "I found the guy"

Kate looked up, "How?"

Abby waved a printed results sheet in front of their faces, "An AFIS match on one of the finger prints."

Tony looked at her, "Yeah, but the print could be from anyone, and not necessarily our robbers."

The elevator dinged and Gibbs stepped into the bullpen, as Abby said, "yeah, but this print was inside the cash register, and it didn't match any of the employees."

Gibbs set his coffee cup on his desk, "That's good work Abs. Tony,"

"Track down our guys address on it boss."

Gibbs turned to the other agent, "Kate."

"Check his phone and financial records see if anything stands out, On it boss," she replied.

It was 16:50 when they pulled up outside the bank robber's house. Gibbs went around back while Tony and Kate took the front door. They worked their way toward each other, clearing rooms as they went. Finally Gibbs met up with his two agents when there was only one room left to clear, which had its door closed. Tony and Kate stood ready as Gibbs opened the door and all three of them burst into the room.

One of the suspects was lying dead, a bullet in his chest. The other was kneeling at the coffee table, counting the money and smirking. The gun was balanced on the corner of said table.

They burst in, saying, "Federal Agents, don't move."

The suspect stood quickly and Gibbs shot him, saying, "He was reaching for the gun," and both the younger agents knew better than to disagree with him.

It was 17:15 when they got back to the Navy Yard. They were in the bullpen when, after a furious but silent battle, Tony pushed Kate forward and she cleared her throat and Gibbs looked at her and said, "Go, both of you, and take Abby with you."

It was 17:40 and Tony and Kate were sitting in plastic chairs in McGee's hospital room, while Abby perched on the end of the bed.

Tony was just telling Tim about how they had gotten the robbers, then he said, "And then Gibbs shot him. He was 'reaching for the gun'"

Abby and Kate giggled and even Tim chuckled a bit. It didn't matter if the man really was reaching for his gun or not. Director Marrow would get three identical reports that said he was. After all, nobody shot at a member of team Gibbs with out suffering the wrath of their "Daddy."


	31. Star Of David

Ziva was sitting on her couch, relaxing with a glass of red wine. She had held a Hanukah celebration with a few of her Jewish neighbors. Today was the eighth and final night. She was grateful for that. The eighth night had always been her favorite. The she leaned back and sipped her wine, basking in the glow of the nine candles of the fully lit Menorah.

There was a knock at her door and she stood up, frowning, before grabbing her gun from its place on the front hall dresser and opening her door a crack. She tried to keep away from the door as much as possible, in case someone was there to shoot her. Her eyes widened in surprise when she saw that it was just Tony.

She set down her gun and swung the door wide. He was standing there hands behind his back. He smiled slightly and said, "Hey Ziva."

Ziva looked at him and said, "What do want, Tony?"

Tony gave her a mock hurt look, "I'm wounded. Can't a friend just pop by to say Hi?"

Ziva pursed her lips and looked him up and down before stepping aside to let him come in and saying, "Perhaps, but you did not come just to say Hi. Why did you come?"

Tony stepped forward and shuffled his feet slightly, "Today happens to be the eighth night of Hanukah."

Ziva nodded, "And?"

Tony shrugged, "I just came by to wish you a happy Hanukah," and pulled a small black velvet box with a blue bow on it from behind his back.

Ziva's eyes softened when she saw the box, "Tony, you shouldn't have."

Tony just smiled, "Go on, open it."

Ziva slowly lifted the lid. Her throat caught in her mouth when she saw what it was, a star of David, on a silver chain, exactly like the one Saalem had ripped off of her neck. She smiled slightly and Tony gently took the box from her, saying, "Let me help put it on you."

She held her hair out of the way as he gently swung the chain around her neck and fastened it.

He smiled and turned to go before she said, "Tony."

He turned back around and she said, "Todah"

He just grinned and said, "No problemo," before turning and walking out the door.

She looked at herself in the bathroom mirror afterwards. A small tear trickled down her cheek. The first Star of David necklace she ever had was when she was a baby, too young to remember. It had been her grandmothers. It had become uncomfortably tight and when she was six, her mother had given her one, on the eighth night of Hanukah. She remembered the night well. It was her last Hanukah with her mother. Ari had presented her with a new star of David when she had joined Mussod on her 13th birthday. That was the necklace she had worn, until it had been ripped off by Saalem.

She ran her fingers over the piece of metal. She had missed having a Star of David around her neck. She had been hesitant to get a new one, because every Star of David necklace had been given to her by a member of her family. Tony had solved her problem for her. She had realized when they came to rescue her that her team was her family now.


	32. Good Vibes

When he was younger and their father was deployed for months at a time, Mrs. McGee taught her children how to send him good vibes. She claimed there was a special technique to it, and that it actually helped the person in question. She warned them, though, that the vibes only worked on family members and other people you were really close to. If you tried to help a casual acquaintance, it wouldn't work. Once Tim had gotten to a certain age, he'd stopped believing. But when Tony was dying of the plague, he thought back to when he was a child, and he preformed the ritual of bringing his hands together in the right way, and holding a mental image of that person in your mind, while you performed certain gestures. He pushed aside his mothers warning that it only worked on people you were close to. As much as he hated to admit it, Tony had become like a brother to him. And so he sent the vibes. He's still grateful Tony didn't die, and he likes to think they helped.


	33. The First Real Family Dinner

Ziva remembered the first time the team came to dinner. Everyone except Tony was there. The truth was, she didn't invite Tony because she thought he was annoying, shallow. The other team members had noticed when Tony wasn't there. She did not expect that. She made some excuse for how he said he could not come, and they had bought it. Well, she wasn't sure if Gibbs had, but he didn't force the issue. She hadn't understood why until she'd been stuck in the box with him, for hours on end, until she began to notice his other side. She began to see how, underneath the jokes and the teasing and the movie references, he really was a deep person.

She invited him to dinner that night because she felt guilty for misjudging him. She had seen what the others had. Gibbs smirked when he told Tony about how he had been invited as well. She realized that he was smirking at her. He knew she'd come around to Tony, eventually.

Those weren't real family dinners though because they were incomplete. The first real family dinner was on a cold fall night several weeks later. Jenny came this time, so did Tony, as well as Gibbs, McGee, Abby, Jimmy, and Ducky. In short, the entire team, and her entire family. Before when she'd invited them to dinner, she just wanted to get to know them, but now, now she knew them, now they really were her family.


	34. Sunday

Sunday was a day for family and every Sunday afternoon, Gibbs went to visit his family at the cemetery. He stood by Shannon and Kelly's graves and he wished they were still alive. He didn't vary his routine for years until Kate died. Then he visited her on Sundays as well, splitting his time. He felt guilty about this sometimes, but then he remembered something Shannon used to say. Time and Money are finite, but love is infinite. There's always enough for everybody. Enough for Shannon and Kelly and Kate and later Jenny and enough left over for Tim, Tony, and Ziva. They were the family he had left now. The few times he missed his Sunday visits were all family things. Even when they had a case, he snatched a few hours to stand by the graves and explain why he couldn't visit them as long as usual, but if someone from the team needed his help with something or, God forbid, was in the hospital he would skip his visit to be with his living family. The longest he ever went without visiting when he was in DC was a month and a half and, as he stood beside the graves and explained, that was because Tony caught the plague. Love was infinite and he would always love them, but time was finite and he had a living family now, who sometimes needed him more.


	35. Pacci

Just Tony's thoughts after dead man talking. I don't own NCIS

* * *

He was glad he didn't have to go to Pacci's memorial service. He would have gone, of course, if he wasn't working, but still he was glad he didn't have to. Pacci was family, like Abby said. Not like a brother or anything, but maybe like a cousin. And he missed Pacci. He really did. That's probably why he didn't pick up on the fact that Amanda Reed was really a man. He had needed something to take his mind off things and he had found it in her. Part of the reason why he became so obsessed with her was because he wanted to glamorize Pacci's death. It seemed like something from a movie, and as long as he tried not to think that the dead agent was Pacci, I was all fantastical. A mysterious woman, large sums of missing money it defiantly could be. Except that in the movies, the dead man isn't someone you know and the woman is always a woman. He was so enthralled be her movie like allure, trying to cover his grief, that he didn't notice what signs must surely must have been there. And so Tony tongued a transsexual. And the whole thing disgusted him, but mostly, though he didn't let anyone know, it was because he'd lusted after Pacci's killer. And he was glad that s/he was dead. Nobody messed with Gibbs' family and got away with it.


	36. The Paperwork Excuse

"Gibbs, Give me a reason not to kill Tony," said Ziva

"It would mean more paperwork," Gibbs replied.

Of course that wasn't really what Ziva meant. She would never kill Tony. He was like a brother to her. A very annoying brother sometimes, but a brother none the less. If he wasn't she would probably have killed him already, since she couldn't come up with a rational reason not to on her own. The reason Gibbs was chill about it was because he knew how Ziva felt about Tony. He knew she'd never kill him, but had a hard time admitting that she'd let someone into her heart. So he gave her a logical reason to latch onto. The Paperwork excuse.


	37. Coming To Wacth Him Play

Anthony DiNozzo Jr. was the starting quarter back on his high school football team and the leading scorer on the basketball team when he was a sophomore. Everyone had thought he had it all, but they were wrong. There was only one thing he wanted, and that was for his dad to come to one of his games. Or even half a game. Tony knew that his father was a busy man and understood if he had to leave at half time. But Tony had started playing on sports teams when he was five years old and in the 17 years he continued to play through high school and then collage, his father had not come to a single game. He hadn't even watched Tony play on TV, even though the Ohio State games were broadcasted regularly.

He had long ago since came to terms with the fact that his father had never come to any of his games, but he still found it odd that his boss had come to more games he'd played in then his father. He remembered the first one, about 3 months after he joined the team. He was playing on the NCIS softball team. Softball wasn't his sport per say, but he was athletic and had good hand eye coordination. They were scheduled to play the FBI. He was looking forward to the match as a chance to get back at them for a split jurisdiction case he'd worked recently.

He'd been hit the ball and made it to first. He glanced back and there was Gibbs. Standing by the fence with a cup of coffee and watching him. He'd stared at first. He got distracted and nearly missed the next batter sprinting toward him. He had to dive for second base. When he stood up, he noticed that Gibbs was smirking. He focused on the game then, only glancing back occasionally to see if Gibbs was still there. NCIS won by three points.

After the game, he'd walked over to Gibbs and said, "Hey Boss."

Gibbs just said, "Hey DiNozzo."

Tony frowned, "You come for a reason?"

Gibbs shrugged, "I just wanted to see you in action."

It wasn't the last game Gibbs came to, and Tony found that he like having Gibbs come watch him. It was almost like having his dad there.


	38. Mommy Will Figure It Out

She was going to get answers out of the Commander.

When she had first learned about the call out, she was indifferent. Then she started to get a gut feeling that something was wrong. She went to consult Abby about it and had seen Gibbs on the screen. She had overheard Ducky on the other end of the transmission telling Gibbs about the hemorrhagic fever. And her stomach had clenched at the thought of her people being exposed to the sickness.

And now she was in MTAC, trying to get answers from Commander Skinner. She had just gotten a sit rep from Ducky and she was worried sick. Not that she'd ever show it. She was pushing skinner harder than she normally would for info. Anything to help them figure out what they were dealing with.

After she'd cut him off though, she broke down. She made her way out of MTAC and into the elevator and hit the emergency stop switch so that nobody would see her in her weakness. She was suppose to be tough, but as she sat on the elevator floor, the thought of losing any of them made her weep.

Jethro, who if she was honest with herself she still loved, and Ziva who had she had taken under her wing like a daughter ever since they worked together in Cairo, and Tony, who she had grown to love like a son when Gibbs was away, and Ducky who was like a brother to her, and even Tim, who was quiet but she knew him well enough to see the hidden strength Jethro brought out in him, they were like her family.

She let herself cry for five minutes before she got up and took a deep breath. She took a tissue out of her pocket and wiped away the runny mascara using the reflective wall as a mirror. Then she put on her game face and flicked the emergency switch, getting out of the elevator to return to her office and face Commander Skinner.

Mothers were supposed to be tough and do whatever was necessary to help their families. And she sure as hell wouldn't let any man stop her from finding out what was going on aboard that boat. She needed all the info she could get if she had a snowball's chance in hell of saving her family.


	39. Medications

If you looked inside the backpack carried by Senior Supervisory Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs, you would find a lot of things that made sense to find in such a bag. Specimen jars, evidence bags, rubber gloves and tweezers were the tools of his trade. He had invented rule number nine, so it made sense for him to have a knife and by extension extra bullets weren't exactly unexpected. And a flask of bourbon and some extra coffee grounds in case they had to spend the night somewhere were expected of Gibbs.

If you dug deeper, you would find a lot of medication. Over-the-counter bottles of generic Ibuprofen and Acetaminophen. A prescription inhaler. A bottle of prescription sleeping pills. And over-the-counter motion sickness drugs. This was especially surprising considering that if you took a look at his medical records you would know that he had never been prescribed any type of inhaler or sleeping pills and during the three tours on ship he took as a Marine he never once complained about sea sickness. And if you looked closely at the bottle of Acetaminophen, you would see that it had an expiration date in 2006 suggesting manufacture in 2003 or 2004 and had barely been touched.

The truth was that that Acetaminophen had been for Kate, because he noticed that she preferred it when she had headaches. He never took the stuff himself; his body responded better to the Ibuprofen he'd been prescribed higher doses of when he'd been a Gunny, but he couldn't bring himself to throw it out. The inhaler had been prescribed to Tony by Dr. Pitt after his run in with the plague in case of emergencies. Tony refuses to carry one, and though he has never actually needed it, Gibbs knows he's better safe than sorry. The sleeping pills were prescribed to Ziva to help with the nightmares after she got back from Somalia. He had watched her struggle with them when she fell asleep in the bullpen once and he carried her pills around so she could get a good night's sleep if they ever had to stay somewhere overnight unexpectedly. The motion sickness pills were for McGee, because he knew the younger agent got seasick and he knew that working for the Navy, many of their investigations took them onto ships.

He knew that it was suppose to be the agent's responsibility to carry any medication they might need, but he thought of his team more like his children and he like to be prepared. All three of them were too proud to carry their own medication and like any good father he knew and wouldn't let them suffer for it.

* * *

A/- My father is a firm believer in generic pain killers and I'm pretty sure Gibbs it too. Acetaminophen is most commonly known by the band name Tylenol and ibuprofen is more commonly known by the brand name Advil.


	40. Ziva's Abba

Ziva sat up in bed, drenched in sweat, a scream dying from her lips. She was breathing heavily, adrenaline making it impossible for her to sleep. She stood up and shivered as the cold night air blew against her sweat-drenched skin. Since there was no way she could go back to sleep, she took a shower, letting the hot water run down her back. When she was through she got dressed in a clean set of pajamas. She was still awake to go back to sleep, so she made her way into the kitchen to make herself a cup of tea.

Once she stepped into turn on the lights though, she felt the walls pressing in on her. She had to get out of the house so she grabbed her shoes and jammed them on her feet, heading strait out the door. She couldn't face the enclosed space of the elevator, so she took the stairs sprinting down then strait out into the night. She stood in front of her building. It was quite cool out, and in her mad rush to get out she hadn't thought to grab a sweatshirt. She stood there shivering for a few minutes, then decided to hop in her car and go for a drive, rather than stand around in the cold.

She didn't realize what she was doing, but her sub-conscious had her drive to Gibbs' house. She sat there, parked in front of his house for five minutes before she sighed and made her way out of the car and into the house. The door, as per usual, wasn't locked and she stood in the front hall for a minute before she made her way down to the basement.

Gibbs was down sanding his boat when he heard the faint creak of the door opening. The lack of discernable footsteps told him it was Ziva. When she reached the bottom step, he said, without turning around, "Something on your mind, Ziver?"

She wasn't surprised he knew it was her. She had worked with Gibbs long enough to know about his talents. She didn't say anything though, merely approached him and gingerly took a seat on a nearby saw horse. He set down his sanding block and picked up the ever-present bottle of bourbon and a mug and held the bottle up for her inspection. She was still shaken and nodded mutely. He poured her some of the amber liquid and she took it with a muttered, "Toda."

She took a sip and closed her eyes, breathing in the smell of bourbon and sawdust with a hint of coffee. I was partly the smell that made her feel so safe here. Gibbs didn't press her to talk, turning back to his boat. They sat in silence for a few minutes before she said, "I am sorry."

Gibbs shrugged, "You have nothing to be sorry for."

Ziva said, "It is just that I could not sleep and I…" she hesitated.

He sensed the chocked back emotion in her voice and put down his block, gently laying a hand on her shoulder. That was all it took and she threw her arms around him and buried her head in his shoulder.

He rubbed gentle circles into her back and asked, "Nightmare?" She nodded into his chest. He held her for several minutes until she stopped crying and collapsed limply into him, her energy spent. Disentangled himself and said, "Come on, bedtime."

He helped her up the stairs and up the second flight. He didn't have a guest room anymore, so he gently tucked her into his own bed, giving her a kiss on the head. She murmured sleepily, "Good night Abba."

Gibbs hesitated only a moment before replying, "Goodnight Ziver," and slipping out of the room, and heading downstairs. She was as good as his daughter, why shouldn't she call him father?

A smile played on Ziva's lips and her last thought as she drifted off to sleep was that she was glad she had Gibbs to call Abba, when her father would never comfort her after a nightmare, or even tuck her in.


	41. Hospital Confrontation

Tim stood over his partner, putting pressure on the wound in an attempt to stop the bleeding, as sirens wailed in the distance, signaling the arrival of the ambulance. Tony had been shot while they were going to pick up a suspect. They'd underestimated the amount of fire power he'd had, in the form of automatic weapons, and the arrest had turned into a shoot out, with Tim killing the suspect and Tony getting shot in the gut.

Tim hopped into the ambulance once the paramedics lifted Tony into it. He had already called Ziva and asked her to come process the scene. The female young paramedic started asking him questions such as, "Does he have any medical conditions we should be aware of?" Wanting to make sure nothing was left out, he told them about how Tony had the plague. He also told them that Tony wasn't allergic to anything, which was true.

He held Tony's hand the whole way and reminded him that he didn't have Gibbs' permission to die. The young paramedic looked at him like he was crazy. The older of the pair just smiled slightly. He'd worked the DC area for 3 years and thus had had his fair share of run ins with team Gibbs.

They rushed Tony directly to surgery when they got to the hospital and left Tim sitting in the waiting room. The only thing left to do was call Gibbs and Abby. He called Abby first. She reacted as expected and he tried his best to calm her over the phone before she hung up so she could focus on driving to Bethesda.

Gibbs was at a security conference in Moscow. It was midnight local time when his phone rang. He grabbed it and said, "Gibbs."

McGee bit his lip, "Did I wake you up Boss?"

Gibbs growled, "Do ya think? This had better be damn important."

Tim said, "Tony got shot," very quickly, his nerves getting the better of him.

When he heard this, Gibbs sat up, wide awake, "What's his condition?"

Tim said, "He's in Bethesda at surgery… I..I mean he's in surgery at Bethesda. I'm sorry Boss."

Gibbs was shocked, "What?"

Tears began to form in Tim's eyes as he began, "It was just suppose to be a normal arrest but the suspect had a machine gun of some kind and he started shooting at us so we took cover behind this rock and started shooting back, then Tony…he jumped from behind it to create a diversion, to give me a clear shot…but I missed the first shot Boss, and the bastard shot Tony."

Gibbs closed his eyes wearily; he couldn't have his agent guilt tripping. He said, "It wasn't your fault Tim."

Tim swallowed, "But if I'd hit him the first time…"

Gibbs was frustrated with his agent and he knew he needed to try something else. He yelled, "HEY!"

McGee breathed in sharply.

Gibbs asked him, "Did you kill the bastard?"

McGee said, "Yeah but…"

"No buts," Gibbs cut him off, "It wasn't your fault."

"Okay," said Tim quietly.

Wide awake by now and knowing he had to keep Tim's mind focused he asked, "What's the SitRep?"

Tim focused back on the business at hand and said, "I called Ziva, she, Ducky and Jimmy are processing the scene and Abby's on her way to Bethesda as we speak. I'm sorry for waking you up Boss."

Gibbs snorted, "Never apologize, it's a…"

"Sign of weakness, I know. 'Night Boss." He hung up. Halfway around the world, Gibbs smiled slightly before falling back into bed, his brow crinkled in worry.

Tim sat in the waiting room, nervously tapping his foot for what felt like eternity. Abby had come for a little while before she had to go process the evidence from the scene and had been replaced by Ziva who was sitting next to him, her face as stoic as ever but with a slight nervous twitch in her hand. Finally the doctor came out into the waiting room and said, "Family of Anthony DiNozzo?"

Tim stood up, "That would be us."

He looked at them and said, "He's out of surgery and in recovery. You can visit him but only one at a time."Tim nodded and looked at Ziva. She inclined her head indicating that he should go ahead of her. So he stepped forward and followed the doctor down the corridor to Tony's room.

When the doctor left him by Tony's bedside, he sat down and looked at the pale and exhausted form of the senior field agent. He looked terrible and a wave of guilt washed over Tim. Without thinking, he grabbed Tony's hand and said, "I'm sorry, Tony."

He stood there for a minute until Tony started waking up from the amnesia. There was a bowl of ice chips next to the bed. Tony blinked and opened his mouth, his throat parched. As if reading his mind, Tim carefully slipped one ice chip at a time between his lips. When his thirst was sated Tony looked up at Tim and said weakly, "Hey Probie."

Tim smiled slightly and sat down, without letting go of Tony's hand. Just then, Ziva burst in. She looked grim and said, "I have some bad news."

Tony grinned, "Good to see you too Zee-vah."

Ziva smiled slightly and moved to the other side of Tony, taking his other hand in hers, "I am glad to see that you are awake Tony." She tunred and looked up at McGee, "Vance called me. He wants me to go back to the Navy Yard."

Tim nodded, "Okay. I'll stay here…"

"There's more," Ziva cut him off, "when he spoke with me, he asked if Tony's father had been notified." Tony's heart rate went up and he squeezed both their hands. Tim quickly reached out and stroked Tony's hair gently as Ziva continued, "I told him that Tim had called Gibbs." They both smirked at that, "Needless to say he insisted that he was going to call your biological father."

Tony started hyperventilating even as Tim stroked his hair. Ziva gave Tim one last look and patted Tony's shoulder before letting go of his hand and making her way out of the room. Tim was starting to get freaked out a little himself, because he had never seen Tony so scarred. Tony looked up at him and said, "He'll definitely come visit later. He's trying to be 'nice' to me now." Tim noticed the way he emphasized "nice" but didn't say anything as he sat there, next to the bed and squeezed Tony's hand. Tony noticed this and said, "Relax, Probie."

Tim snorted, "How can I relax when you're freaking out."

Tony frowned, "DiNozzo's do not freak out." Tim smiled slightly at that Tony. Tony looked away, "Tim..." he began.

"I'm staying, Tony," Tim cut him off, "With Gibbs gone, I'm acting senior field agent, which means it's my responsibility to make sure you're okay, and Gibbs would kill me if I left you here." He paused to take a breath before continuing, "You're in the hospital way too much Tony. You take too many bullets that are meant for the rest of us, and one day, you might not make it. I have to stay here because if I lost you…"

He didn't even want to finish that thought. Tony cleared his throat, "I was just going to ask you if you could scoot the pillow over just a little, it's digging into my neck." He added, "Good to know you feel that way," as a blushing Tim neatly adjusted the pillow. They both knew that wasn't what he was going to say, but both chose to ignore that fact. Once he was done, he took Tony's hand again and sat back down in the uncomfortable hospital chair that was sitting next to the bed. Tony said, "You know, this reminds me of a movie where this guy goes to visit his dying brother in the hospital…"

Tim smiled as he semi-tuned out Tony's tangent. It was just like Tony to relate even the worst situations to a movie. After Tony had finished telling about the movie, he was exhausted. Tim gently gave him a few more ice chips and after that he fell asleep.

Tim sat watching Tony sleep, holding his hand for a little while before he too dozed off. He woke up a few hours later to a nurse who came to change Tony's IV. Tony smiled weakly and said, "Hey there, sunshine."

She smiled, then frowned and glanced at Tim, who was wearing an expression of annoyed amusement. He saw the look she gave him and blushed slightly saying, "My brother's always flirting with someone."

She seemed satisfied with this answer as she turned back to Tony and said, "Your medical record didn't mention you were a junior."

Tony kept smiling, but Tim didn't miss the tightening of Tony's grip. He smirked up at the nurse, "Do you run background checks on all your patients or just the incredibly hot ones?"

She giggled, "Actually, your father called, wanting to know the condition of Anthony DiNozzo Junior." Tim felt Tony's hand squeeze even tighter.

Tony said, "And what did you tell him?"

She smiled, "I told him you were doing much better after surgery. He said he was coming to visit later. I'll be back in a few more hours to check on you, Okay?"

Tony nodded, "Okay." She left.

As soon as she was gone, Tim stood up. He pulled out his phone, saying, "I'm calling Gibbs."

Tony looked at him and said, "What the hell for? There's nothing he can do."

Tim ignored him and called Gibbs. It was 2:30 am in Moscow. Gibbs had fallen back asleep, but woke up and grabbed the phone saying, "Gibbs."

McGee was less sure now that he could hear the irritation at being woken up at 2:30 in the morning in his boss' voice, but said, "Boss, DiNozzo senior is coming to the hospital."

Gibbs sat up and said, "What?"

McGee pushed forward, "Vance called him and…"

Gibbs sighed in frustration, "What the hell am I supposed to do about it McGee?"

Tim bit his lip, "I guess I thought…There's nothing you can do."

Gibbs heard the fear in Tim's voice, and knowing his agent well understood. He said, "Stay with him, Tim."

McGee said, "Boss?"

It was 2:30 AM and Gibbs was tired and pissed and yelled, "You do not leave Tony's side for anything, Do you hear me?"

McGee gulped, "Yes boss."

Gibbs took a deep breath to calm himself down and said, "It'll be fine Tim," before hanging up the phone, praying he hadn't just lied.

Tim shut his phone and sat down wearily next to Tony's bedside, taking his hand again. Tony said, "Not much he can do is there?"

Tim shook his head, "No. You were right, I shouldn't have called him."

Tony smirked, "What'd he say?"

Tim said, "He asked me what the hell, I expected him to do. Then he ordered me not to leave your side for any reason."

Tony said, "Well, I think there's a bedpan around here somewhere." Tim snorted.

They sat for a few minutes neither saying much, until the door burst open and Anthony DiNozzo Senior walked in. He looked at Tim and said, "You know I was surprised to learn from the nurse that both my sons were here, especially considering that I only have one son."

Tim shuffled his feet nervously, but did not let go of Tony's hand, "Well…I told I them was Tony's brother, and I guessed they just assumed…" he trailed off.

DiNozzo Senior said, "Will you move so I can sit next to my son?"

Tim nodded and stood up. He glanced back at Tony, who was glaring at him. He mouthed "relax," and let go of Tony's hand. He then made his way over to the other side of the bed and took Tony's other hand. DiNozzo senior frowned but said nothing and took Tony's hand as he sat down. After a minute of silence he said, "How are you doing, Junior?"

Tony said, "Considering I just got shot, not bad."

DiNozzo Senior sighed, "You shouldn't be risking your life so much."

Tony rolled his eyes, "Its part of the job."

DiNozzo Senior just sighed and said, "I see." Tim could hear the contempt for the job laced in his voice and was pissed but for Tony's and sake and because he didn't want trouble he tried not to show it. DiNozzo Senior remained silent for a moment before he said, "So what exactly happened?"

Tony would have shrugged had he not been lying in a hospital bed. He simply stated, "We went to go arrest this guy, didn't realize he had an AK-47. He started shooting at us, we crouched behind a rock and returned fire. I jumped out to get a better shot and he shot me."

DiNozzo senior raised his eyebrows and said, "So you got shot for being stupid."

McGee couldn't take it anymore. He said, "No."

DiNozzo Senior just looked at him, a look of surprise on his face.

Tony looked at him and asked, "Probie?"

Tim looked down as he spoke. He needed for DiNozzo Senior to understand that it was his fault not Tony's. He said, "Right before he jumped out, he told me to take the shot once the suspect was focused on him. I stepped out the other way and I fired at him, but the shot hit the door frame and he kept shooting at Tony, so I took a second shot, and I managed to kill him, then I turned around and Tony was lying there with blood oozing out of his stomach. I was suppose to watch his six; that's what partners do, but I messed up. Tony's plan would have worked if I'd hit the suspect with the first shot. It's my fault, not his, that he's lying in a hospital bed."

"Tim," Tony breathed. Tim just squeezed his hand. He didn't look up, afraid that if he did, he'd start crying. Tony said, "Hey Probie." Tim looked up slowly. Once Tim was looking at him, Tony jerked his head slightly. Tim got the meaning and leaned in closer. Tony let go of DiNozzo Senior's hand and reached up and head-slapped Tim.

Tim blinked a few times in surprise, then finally got his head together enough to say, "Tony?"

Tony replied "That's for saying it was your fault when it wasn't Probie."

DiNozzo Senior cleared his throat. Tim stood up quickly and stepped back slightly, still keeping hold of Tony's hand. Tony slowly reached back out and took his father's hand again. There was silence for about ten seconds before Tony's father said, "I talked to the doctor. He said he'll release you by next Friday."

Tony snorted, "I'm signing myself out AMA tomorrow afternoon."

DiNozzo Senior frowned, "Don't you think you're being a little hasty Junior? You did just get shot." He looked up at Tim, clearly hoping he would back him up.

Tim bit his lip. He knew how much his partner hated hospitals, and how much he just wanted to get out of there, but at the same time, he knew that Tony needed time to heal. He sighed, "You should at least stay until Wednesday."

Tony glared at him, "I feel fine."

DiNozzo Senior said, "That's only the day after tomorrow."

Tim said, "I said at least. The Moscow security conference ends on Wednesday."

DiNozzo Senior frowned, but Tony understood Tim's meaning and said, "If I wait that long, I won't be able to leave for at least another day."

Tim sighed, "As much as you hate hospitals, you did just get shot."

Tony rolled his eyes, "I get shot all the time, Probie"

Tim sighed, "It's a not just a flesh wound this time Tony. A shot to the abdomen is serious."

DiNozzo Senior frowned, "What do you mean you get shot all the time?"

Tony shrugged, "We do dangerous work, going after men with guns. Sometimes a bullet nicks one of us. Having my luck, it's usually me. Most of the time, Ducky just patches me up."

DiNozzo Senior frowned, "Why don't I ever hear about these things?"

Tony replied, "What do you want me to do, call you every time I get shot?"

DiNozzo Senior threw his hands up, "I should know about something like that."

Tony said, "And what am I suppose to say, 'Hey, I got shot today, but it just a flesh wound and Ducky patched me up.'? That's ridiculous."

DiNozzo Senior practically yelled, "I have a right to know what's going on in your life!"

Tony raised his voice, "Yeah, because you always cared _soo_ much about me."

Tim had remained quiet all this time, until he noticed the heart rate on the monitor start to spike and the machine start beeping. Knowing that wasn't good he reached out and grabbed Tony's shoulder and said "Tony!"

They both turned to glare at him, and he gulped before saying, "Your heart rate's going up. That can't be good."

Tony let out a deep breath and the beeping began to slow as his heart rate returned to normal. DiNozzo Senior turned to glare at him, "What right do you have to say what's right for my son? First you lie to the nurses, then you refuse to let us be. What the hell are you playing at?"

Tim gulped and squeezed Tony's hand as he said, "I didn't lie to the nurses. I might not be your son, but I am Tony's brother. Not his biological brother, obviously, but we're partners and that makes us…Well it makes us brothers in arms."

"Like in _Band Of Brothers_," Tony piped up.

Normally Tim would have been annoyed at Tony's movie reference, but he smiled and said, "Exactly. And I have orders to stay with Tony, no matter what."

DiNozzo Senior sneered, "If you two are as close as you say, you would have left, even with your orders."

Tim looked down at Tony, "Do you want me to leave?"

Tony grinned and said, "Nah Probie, you can stay."

DiNozzo Senior glared at both of them, then said, "I have to go now."

Tony said, "See you Dad."

DiNozzo Senior nodded and said, "See you round Junior," before turning on his heels and walking out.

Tim went back to the side of the bed where the chair was and sat down and took Tony's hand again.

Tony raised his eyebrows, "I'm his brother?"

Tim looked down, "It's true."

Tony rolled his eyes, "I know that, but did you honestly think he'd get it?"

Tim shrugged, "I got rid of him didn't I?"

Tony nodded, "I'll give you that. So, McBrother, did you ever see the movie…" Tim zoned out while Tony was talking about some movie or other. He was there for his brother, that was the important part.


	42. Jumping In Front Of A Car

Gibbs knew that part of being a parent, practically built into the dictionary definition, was the notion that you were willing to jump in front of a car to protect your child. He would have jumped in front of the car carrying Shannon and Kelly before it crashed if there was a snowball's chance in hell that it would have lessened the impact enough that Kelly would still be alive, if he hadn't been on the other side of the world at the time. He thanked the powers that be that he was on the right continent this time, because Tim is as much his son as Kelly was his daughter. He had jumped in front of an oncoming car the day before, pushing Tim out of the way. He hadn't thought about it, about how he could get killed. All that was going through his mind was that Tim was in danger. Even after it was over and his shoulder hurt badly he couldn't see strait, he was still glad that Tim was okay.

Once Tim had stashed the suspect in that car and realized that Gibbs wasn't around he began to panic. He had been so focused on the job at hand that he hadn't stopped to make sure Gibbs was okay. He tried to keep the fear out of his voice though, when he asked if Gibbs was okay. He was relieved when he saw Gibbs get up. Until he noticed the way he was holding his arm. He was so used to Gibbs being the invincible one, even after he got blown up. He knew Gibbs hated hospitals almost as much as Tony did, and certainly as much as Ziva did, as she had confided to him several times when he'd sat with her when she was injured. His whole family seemed to dislike hospitals. And they were his family, as much as Sarah was. That's why he insisted on driving Gibbs to the hospital, even though he said he was fine. He cared about Gibbs too much not to make sure, and they were close enough that he could tell Gibbs wasn't fine, that he was hurt.

After Tim drove him home, Gibbs really would have let him stay for dinner. He might even have insisted, if he hadn't suddenly realized that something was up. He felt terrible that Tim was beating himself up over something that any reasonable parent would have done. He had told Tim that it wasn't his fault, but he could tell Tim didn't believe him. He wished he didn't have to make Tim feel any guiltier, but he needed Tim to leave, so he made him think that he was being annoying. Because he knew there an intruder in the house and he didn't want to put his son in any more danger.


	43. Deployment

He had forgotten about how much deployment hurt.

After Jenny's funeral, Vance had split up the team, sending them literally across the globe. Ziva had been sent back to Israel. Tim had been relegated to the Cyber-unit. And Tony had been deployed as Agent Afloat aboard the USS Ronald Reagan.

He knew about deployment from his Marine days. He had spent months at a time in Kuwait, away from his family. And it had been miserable. Not the sleeping in tents or the dessert heat or the constant danger. He could handle those. No, it had been being away from his family, not seeing Shannon and Kelly.

They were gone now, but having his team scattered reminded him that he still had family. And it hurt just as much to have them gone. The truth was, he'd never known this side of deployment before; being the one left behind. He started to realize just how hard it was.

He saw the light at the end of the tunnel though, because, having been deployed, he knew that deployments ended. When Tony's deployment on the Ronald Regan ended, he was so happy he could have cried, but he didn't, for Tony's sake. He met his surrogate son at the dock and then went out to lunch with both his boys, Tim and Tony.

It was the first time in a while he had spent any time with Tim, and he felt guilty. I was hard though, with Tim in the sub-basement like he was. He had been used to seeing Tim every day. He knew Abby met Tim for lunch quite frequently, but he couldn't, not with all the cases the MCRT worked.

At first, Tim had come down to his basement after work sometimes, just to spend time with him and sand the boat a bit. But then the old insecurities, that he wasn't good enough to be a field agent, that he was doomed to be a geek working in cybercrimes forever, started up again and he stopped coming so much, and eventually stopped coming at all. It was too painful for Tim to be reminded of what he had lost.

It was a beautiful day, the day Tony's deployment aboard the Ronald Regan ended. It was warm and the sun was shining. It was Saturday, and his group of agents (They weren't really his team) didn't have a case and Tim wasn't working the weekend shift. It was good to finally talk to Tim again. He had been coming in to work when he knew Tim got in recently, just so he could ride the elevator with him. They never talked much though.

The best part of the day though, was seeing Tony. His son had been deployed for months and was finally home, safe and sound. His stoic face betrayed the whirlwind of feelings on the inside, happiness and anticipation edged with worry. Tim stood next to him, smiling slightly and nervously shifting from foot to foot. Sailors poured off the ship, eager to see their families.

Gibbs scanned their faces, looking for Tony. The worry began to rise when he didn't see him. After a while though, the crowds around the dock began to thin and the sailors who had nobody to meet them began to make their way off the ship. Gibbs' breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Tony among them, but he felt the pang in his heart when he realized that Tony counted himself as one of them.

Tony hung his head as he walked down the gangplank and consequently didn't see them until he got to the bottom. His eyes lit up when he saw them, but he kept his face neutral as he approached.

He came up to them and asked, "What are you doing here, Boss?" frowning slightly.

Gibbs smacked the back of his head lightly, "You think I wouldn't come the day your ship got back?"

Tony grinned as he rubbed the back of his head, "I guess I should have figured." He turned to Tim, "and you, McGoo?"

Tim smiled, "I never thought I'd say this and actually mean it, but it's good to have you back Tony." He extended his hand and Tony reached out and shook it before they abandoned the stiff formalities of co-workers and embraced as brothers.

Gibbs smiled slightly. It was heart-warming to see them embrace. When they broke apart he turned and said, "Come on. Lunch's on me."

Tony started after him, "On you six boss." Tim followed behind.

That night, Vance called Tony up and told him to be ready to ship out as Agent Afloat aboard the USS Seahawk the next afternoon. The next day was heartbreaking. Tim had been through too many re-deployments back when he was a kid. He'd hoped that once his father retired he'd never have to face the pain again. He was wrong and it hurt just as much watching his brother ship out. The first time, he had still been grieving over Jenny's death and was still in shock over the team being broken up. This time it was much more real.

Abby clung to Tony, crying about how little time she got to spend with him. One breakfast together wasn't enough to make up for months without seeing each other. Between that breakfast and lunch with Timmy, she felt like the only time she was seeing her brothers was for meals.

Tony stroked her back and tried to comfort her. He hated seeing her so upset. He hated being an agent afloat too. Not because he was stuck on a floating piece of metal for months, although he suspected that had something to do with it, but because he was being ripped away from the only real family he had ever known.

Tim embraced Tony for the second time in two days and said, "Fair winds and fellowing seas, Tony." To which Tony replied, "Fair firewalls and fellowing hard drives McGeek." Tim would have been annoyed if he didn't recognize Tony's statement as simply Tony trying to make light of the situation, the same way he always did. He laughed hollowly

Gibbs embraced Tony as well before Tony had to leave and make his way up the gangplank. They stood on the dock, watching the ship set sail, Gibbs with one arm around Tim's shoulder and hugging Abby with the other. All that was left of their family with Jenny and Kate dead, Ziva exiled to Israel, nad Tony shipped off to sea.

And Gibbs remembered then, just who much deployments hurt.


	44. Not Money, Just Love

Gibbs understood the older DiNozzo's desire to spend Thanksgiving with his son; Every thanksgiving that he didn't spend with Kelly, both back when she was alive and after she died, made him feel slightly hollow inside, although being around the other members of the MCRT for the day eased the feeling somewhat. Given his understanding, and given the fact that spending time with the old man seemed to make Tony happy, Gibbs was willing to put him up for a few days, annoying as he was.

Although he didn't agree with the way he treated his son, Gibbs didn't feel like he could say anything about being a bad father, remembering all too strongly when he had ignored Kelly's pleas and left for Kuwait. So all he could do was watch the two DiNozzos at the thanksgiving dinner the team shared at Ducky's house, as they were awkward around each other, refusing to talk about the subject of money. Tony's smile seemed more genuine though, and that was all Gibbs wanted.

At the train station, Gibbs watched as father and son said goodbye. The way that DiNozzo senior seemed so carefree about their parting bugged him, but Gibbs could rationalize that DiNozzo was just covering up the twinge of uneasiness he felt whenever he had to leave Tony, Abby, Tim, and/or Ziva in DC while he left the city for some reason. What Gibbs couldn't rationalize was the way the older DiNozzo kept apologizing for not having an inheritance for Tony yet. That meant that DiNozzo senior had ignored the fact that Gibbs had told him that Tony didn't really want money. No kid every rank's money at the top of things they want from their parents.

Gibbs had driven the two DiNozzos to the station, and sat in the car, quietly watching the scene. When the train was out of sight, Tony stopped looking after it and can back to where Gibbs had parked. Gibbs patted Tony's shoulder gently when he got back in. He then stepped on the gas and headed back to his house, without saying a word, and brought DiNozzo back to the basement for a drink. Unlike some father's he could name, he actually wanted to spend more time than just the holidays with Tony.

A/N I'm not dead, just swamped with school work. I'm working on Jimmy Gets Bullied, but I'm not quite sure how exactly to write the ending, so it's going slowly, and this was just begging to be written. Enjoy!


	45. Unexplainable

When Ziva asks him if he believes in the unexplained, his first reflex is to say that he'll leave the UFOs and Bermuda Triangle disappearances to fanatics like Abby, who, even though he loves her, has a few screws loose. But then he starts thinking. He starts thinking about how nobody can explain just how Gibbs manages to be so badass and always be right, and how he can be so emotionally stable at the same time. And they would be hard pressed to explain why they were so fascinated with Gibbs' possible affair with this psychologist.

He uses McGee as an example because Tim is always citing the lack of facts in Gibbs gut instinct, and Tony knows him so well, it's the first person he thinks of. That of course sets his train of thought off in a different direction, and while he's talking to Ziva, he thinks that maybe, there might be some subtext to what he's saying, and that the Tom E. Gemcity side of Tim would be proud of him for even thinking the word subtext.

Because the reason he can be so open with Ziva, and the reason they analyze and pick apart Gibbs behavior, even though it doesn't really concern them, is because each of the agents feels closer to the other members of their team than they do to their biological families. And that, in and of itself, makes no sense, and he can't even begin to explain why. Not that he has to; some things, after all, are fine without an expalation.

A/N-I'm not dead! I just haven't been motivated to write NCIS fanfiction in a while now, but then a saw "The Tell" and that moment between Tony and Ziva was just begging to be picked apart.


End file.
